IN OUR OPINION

One year later, what has changed?

Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 9:43 p.m.

Drivers traveling on Interstate 75 south of Gainesville today would be hard pressed to find much different from a year ago.

One year ago this week, on Jan. 29, 2012, 11 motorists were killed and dozens more injured in a series of middle-of-the-night crashes amid dense fog mixed with smoke from a Paynes Prairie wildfire.

One year later, one of the only visible changes to emerge from that carnage is temporary signs warning about fog and smoke.

Those signs have been sitting there long enough to practically be part of the landscape, so one cannot help but wonder about their effectiveness. It will be at least another year before the start of a $4 million project that includes overhead boards displaying messages that can change with the conditions.

Without those boards warning drivers, we're left to rely on the Florida Highway Patrol to make sure there isn't a repeat of the deadly crashes.

Given FHP's track record and failure to take almost any responsibility for the crashes, there's cause for concern about safety on I-75.

FHP's report on the crashes blamed them on drivers for not properly responding to conditions and reducing their speeds. It went to great lengths to blame drivers for being impaired, inexperienced or fatigued, conclusions that were insulting to the memories of those who died.

The report conveniently ignored the Highway Patrol's culpability in failing to implement changes prompted by a series of similar crashes in Polk County in 2008.

Now FHP expects the public to trust that it's making changes as a result the I-75 crashes. Those changes include new procedures that more clearly establish the person in charge when conditions warrant a road closure.

Then-Lt. John Gourley made the decision to close and then re-open I-75 before the Jan. 29 crashes. He'd been trained in the use of a weather index intended to determine whether smoke and fog would impede visibility, yet didn't consult the index or National Weather Service meteorologists before making his ill-fated call to reopen the highway.

Records show a four-year gap in which FHP simply stopped training troopers about the weather index. Yet we're supposed to trust that the Highway Patrol will now follow through on properly training its troopers. That becomes harder to believe when no troopers have been disciplined for the I-75 crashes, including Gourley, who has since been promoted to captain.

Clearly some of the drivers bear responsibility for what happened in the I-75 crashes. Some paid the ultimate price — their lives and the lives of loved ones. Others merely had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The so-called superfog that shrouded I-75 that night has been described as the weather equivalent of a bridge collapse, requiring split-second reaction time to avoid injury or death.

Maybe FHP is afraid of admitting any responsibility due to the possibility of lawsuits. But that does little to inspire confidence that the Highway Patrol has taken the crashes seriously enough to take the steps necessary to prevent another tragedy from occurring.

<p>Drivers traveling on Interstate 75 south of Gainesville today would be hard pressed to find much different from a year ago.</p><p>One year ago this week, on Jan. 29, 2012, 11 motorists were killed and dozens more injured in a series of middle-of-the-night crashes amid dense fog mixed with smoke from a Paynes Prairie wildfire.</p><p>One year later, one of the only visible changes to emerge from that carnage is temporary signs warning about fog and smoke.</p><p>Those signs have been sitting there long enough to practically be part of the landscape, so one cannot help but wonder about their effectiveness. It will be at least another year before the start of a $4 million project that includes overhead boards displaying messages that can change with the conditions.</p><p>Without those boards warning drivers, we're left to rely on the Florida Highway Patrol to make sure there isn't a repeat of the deadly crashes.</p><p>Given FHP's track record and failure to take almost any responsibility for the crashes, there's cause for concern about safety on I-75.</p><p>FHP's report on the crashes blamed them on drivers for not properly responding to conditions and reducing their speeds. It went to great lengths to blame drivers for being impaired, inexperienced or fatigued, conclusions that were insulting to the memories of those who died.</p><p>The report conveniently ignored the Highway Patrol's culpability in failing to implement changes prompted by a series of similar crashes in Polk County in 2008.</p><p>Now FHP expects the public to trust that it's making changes as a result the I-75 crashes. Those changes include new procedures that more clearly establish the person in charge when conditions warrant a road closure.</p><p>Then-Lt. John Gourley made the decision to close and then re-open I-75 before the Jan. 29 crashes. He'd been trained in the use of a weather index intended to determine whether smoke and fog would impede visibility, yet didn't consult the index or National Weather Service meteorologists before making his ill-fated call to reopen the highway.</p><p>Records show a four-year gap in which FHP simply stopped training troopers about the weather index. Yet we're supposed to trust that the Highway Patrol will now follow through on properly training its troopers. That becomes harder to believe when no troopers have been disciplined for the I-75 crashes, including Gourley, who has since been promoted to captain.</p><p>Clearly some of the drivers bear responsibility for what happened in the I-75 crashes. Some paid the ultimate price — their lives and the lives of loved ones. Others merely had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The so-called superfog that shrouded I-75 that night has been described as the weather equivalent of a bridge collapse, requiring split-second reaction time to avoid injury or death.</p><p>Maybe FHP is afraid of admitting any responsibility due to the possibility of lawsuits. But that does little to inspire confidence that the Highway Patrol has taken the crashes seriously enough to take the steps necessary to prevent another tragedy from occurring.</p>